Protégé
by Cardinals Against Humanity
Summary: Roman was having a decidedly bad day, courtesy of a certain girl in red. His day is about to change even more when he meets a particularly troublesome thief.


Protégé

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**A/N: I got bored and this seemed easy to write. It's far from the best thing I've written and if you want a better Roman-Neo first encounter read Hat Thief by RagingStorm7482 it's much better in my opinion.**

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Chapter 1: A Street-Rat Named Desire

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Roman walked down the dark street with a frown, he'd had a less than pleasant night. It began after the Red had stopped his robbery of the Dust shop and only gotten worse from there. He'd nearly been decapitated by the Huntress that came to the girl's aid and even after he'd escaped, Roman had the pleasure of enduring a very long… Discussion with Cinder over future robberies. To say the ginger-haired man was unhappy would be an understatement. It was because of this that Roman desperately wanted a drink.

Roman began a very irritated stroll towards one of the bars he'd come to frequent, not the one owned by Junior mind you, that idiot couldn't mix a Martini to save his life. And so the crimelord found himself walking down a dirty alley in the dead of night just to get a drink without any unnecessary attention.

Unfortunately Roman attracted some attention from several local vagrants who occupied the dirty alleyway. A quick glance was enough to discourage most of the would-be muggers, his face easily recognizable. Or at least that's what Roman thought as he neared the end of the dark passage until he felt what was unmistakably a hand enter his back left pocket. _"Amateur." _Roman immediately thought, spinning his cane around so it directly collided with…

Nothing. Roman's blinked twice as he realized he'd missed, that is until he noticed an incredibly short girl with matted and dirty brown and pink hair holding his wallet, eyes wide as dinner plates as she saw the cane narrowly passed over her head. Roman stopped his swing and looked at the girl for another moment, only just noticing her ragged appearance.

The girl, whoever the hell she was, was wearing a mismatched set of clothing from a variety of sources including a ripped white shirt that was too big for her and horribly tattered brown khakis that were barely held together by some very mediocre sewing. Put simply, this girl was only just surviving and clearly had nowhere else to go. This didn't matter to Roman as her rounded the barrel of his cane at her.

"You have just made a very big mistake, you stupid street rat." He said, the small iron sight flipping up.

The mismatched girl blinked again and Roman, even in the darkness of the alley, could have sworn he saw something pink flash across her face. After less than a second of further thought, Roman decided it didn't matter and pulled the trigger.

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The sound of shattering glass filled the alley and Roman watched as the girl shattered into an infinite amount of pieces before him. Roman blinked several times as his jaw dropped, gaping at the scene before noticing a certain pink-haired figure turning around the corner of the alley in a sprint, still holding his wallet. "Oh Dust No!" Roman yelled, breaking into a sprint after the girl.

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"Shit shit shit shit shit!" Neo yelled under her breath as she ducked into another alley, hoping to lose the orange-haired bozo she'd just robbed. _"It was supposed to be simple!" _Neo reasoned silently, _"Grab his wallet and run, nobody ever notices until later!" _Neo hid deeper into the darkness as she heard what must have been the ginger guy's footsteps, they were too fast to be normal and too organized to just be a mad sprint. He was looking for her. "Fuck." Neo quietly said, preparing to run once more.

Neo readied her stance, listening for the footsteps that would surely tell her where her pursuer was and when to run. Instead she heard a faint click from behind her. "Evening, Pinkey." Roman said, his cane pointed directly at her in one hand and the other holding… "Thanks for keeping it safe for me but I really did need it back." Roman said smugly, waving around the leather accessory. Neo immediately darted her hands to the pocket she'd stowed it in for the time being, "How'd…?"

Roman smiled evilly, "I'm a professional, sweetheart. I might've taught you thing or two but seeing as you were so rude…" The iron-sight clicked up once more, "I'm afraid I must bid you adi…" Roman's words were cut off as Neo swung a torn umbrella she'd found at Roman, forcing the gentleman thief to block it. Neo haphazardly swung again, completely caught off-guard by his unprecedented reflexes and fell forward onto her face after a swing from Roman connected with her side.

"You... Don't know who you're dealing with, do you?" Roman asked, knocking the umbrella away from Neo's reach and planting the barrel of his cane firmly against her back.

A raspberry from the girl served as his answer, "You know, generally when you have a gun to your back, it's not a good idea to piss of the guy holding it." Roman said, appreciating the novice's spirit.

"Generally, I don't appreciate having a gun pressed against my spine." Neo spat back with venom.

Roman smiled a confident grin, "What's your name?" He asked.

After a moment of consideration, she answered, "Neo, it's short for Neopolitan." She said, still face down in the mud.

Roman laughed, "Well, Neo," He said, moving the cane off from her back. "You seem like too much fun to kill yet, and I'm feeling generous. So I'm gonna make you a deal." The cane-user said, "You can either come work with me and my associates, or you can go and try your luck out here and probably get picked up by some of our dashing police officers. What do you say?"

Neo stared blankly at Roman as she rose to her feet, "Really?" She asked, in total disbelief at how the situation had turned around so quickly. Roman looked at her and nodded, only just now appreciating how tiny she was, she couldn't have even been five feet tall. Neo took a moment to answer, clearly still in shock, "I… Yes! I'll go with you!" She blurted out as if the offer would end if she took too long.

"Alright then," Roman said, now returning to his confident stride with Neo in tow, "Let's see about getting you some new clothes then, my young apprentice!"

Neo cocked her eyebrow at the wording, "Apprentice?" She asked, picking up the ruined umbrella she used a moment ago and jogging after the ginger-haired man, "I think Protégé is sounds much better." She said confidently.

Roman smiled once again, this new girl was going to be a lot of fun, "Don't push your luck, Neo." He said lightly, "I'm still thinking about making you call me sensei." Neo gave a slight bow, "What do you require of me master…" Neo paused as she realized she had yet to learn her employers name.

"Torchwick, m'lady." Roman said laughing, the bad start to the night already in the past, _"Oh yes, this girl is going to be a lot of fun."_

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**A/N: I have no idea if I'll continue this or even how I would go about doing so. Regardless I hope you all enjoyed and, for now anyway, bid you all adieu.**

**P.S. This wasn't meant to be taken as shipping Neo and Roman (I do but just not in this particular case) but if you want to take it that way, by all means do so.**


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